In recent years, quite a few new companies from the private sector have decided to try their luck in finance industry, and there is now plenty of tough competitors. However, while it may seem easy to get started in this industry, staying afloat is another issue.

Because of the high level of saturation, aspiring businesses find it hard to set themselves apart and secure a slice of the market. This is why it is necessary for companies that provide financial services to make constant improvements and streamline their workflow.

However, effective solutions don’t always come in the form of revolutionary new approaches or major changes to the company structure. We live in a time of highly efficient software and handy gadgets, so if you’re looking for a way to bring your finance company to a new level, you shouldn’t look at the future, but at the present.

Companies in finance industry may play by a different set of rules than those that offer a tangible service or product to their customers, e.g. there is an increased risk of customer churn, the rules and regulations can be quite strict, and there are a lot of diverse customer portfolios to deal with.

Considering the nature of such companies, finance CRM software should definitely make its way into your toolkit, as it can help you effectively address all of these issues. That being said, we still have to determine what one needs to look for in finance CRM software and why it is a smart investment, and we will elaborate on these points in the following paragraphs.

Eliminate Outdated Processes

A modern office can be swamped with a slew of traditional processes that fail to utilize the latest technology, and this happens more often than you think. The world of business has changed dramatically with the advent of technology, so there is no more room for tons of paper documents or employees unable to stay updated on the latest developments when they are away from the office.

So, the very first thing that a finance CRM will enable you to do is to eliminate outdated processes from your business strategy. Once you implement this software in your company, you will input all the information about your business and keep it in one place, thus eliminating the need for a lot of processes that don’t contribute to the overall productivity.

Automate Repetitive Processes

Furthermore, in order to improve the productivity of your office, you should do your best to unburden your team. Businesses that are still dealing with outdated technologies and offices that still suffer because of outdated business processes also have to deal with repetitive menial tasks.

Every process that can be automated – should be automated. If a task is purely repetitive and dull, and if it doesn’t require any human attention, there is no reason for any of your employees to waste time on it. Another thing that a proper piece of finance CRM software can enable you to do – automating repetitive processes.

For example, banks often deal with clients who forgot their PINs or who had their credit cards stolen. Considering that these clients need to go through the same standard process, this activity doesn’t require the attention of your agents. So, this is definitely one of the processes that can and should be automated.

Make Room for Creative Tasks

If you’re wondering why your business is stagnating and why you weren’t able to move from that rut for a while now, you should blame the traditional business model we just talked about. However, once you eliminate the bad part of tradition from the way you do business, you’ll be able to see a huge difference in the overall atmosphere in your office.

Once your employees can stop thinking about how they need to input those same numbers over and over again, they can dedicate their time and energy to actions which can contribute to the future of your company. This newfound amount of free time may be used for many different purposes.

Profile Your Clients

If you want to surface in the sea of other businesses who offer practically the same list of services and products like yours, then it’s vital for the future of your business that you get to know your target audience. With a quality piece of finance CRM software, you’ll be able to gather highly useful data about your customers and the way they see your business by asking them to:

Clients are different, so you should always enable them in multiple ways to rate your business. Furthermore, if you give a say to your target audience about the way you run your business, they will fill like they have a direct influence on your future development. This action will evoke loyalty in your clients because they will know how much you value them.

On the other hand, talking to your clients regularly will give you enough information to profile them. The more you know about your target audience, the better you’ll be able to fashion the list of your products and services and make them fit their needs.

Give Your Clients More

Once you have filled out the database in your finance CRM software, you’ll be able to personalize each of the leads and customers. With this information, you’ll be able to add a bit of a personal touch, and strengthen the professional bond you have with your clients.

In practice, this means that you’ll be able to:

Congratulate them on their birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

Have a transparent overview of their contracts.

Offer them something you know they will find tempting.

If you make every relationship with each of your clients count, you can be sure that they won’t feel the need to check out your competitors and see what they have to offer. This level of attentiveness will undoubtedly make your customers stick with you.

Archive Conversations

You should also have in mind that no matter how well your support center is, your clients usually have to explain their previous conversations to agents all over again. The chances that the same agent they already talked to will answer their message or pick up when they call are minimal.

However, with finance CRM software, your agents will be able to access the conversation history and thus show your clients how much effort and care have been invested into making their experience with your support center pleasant.

Naturally, you should know that people who get in touch with your customer service are probably turning to you because of a complaint. However, if you shorten the time necessary for solving the problem in this manner, you can be sure that they will appreciate it.

Use Your Purchase History

Another very handy thing about finance CRM software is that it also provides insights about the purchase history. Information regarding which products and services were interesting to your clients so far should be quite useful to your agents.

Thanks to the profiles of your clients, you’ll be able to clearly see details about their contracts and when they expire. This combined with their purchase histories will enable you to up-sell and cross-sell. Making an interesting offer to your clients will once again make them closer to your company.

Attack Your Leads

We already mentioned how automating repetitive tasks will give your team more room for creative actions. One of new projects, if not the most important one, should definitely be about your leads and dormant customers.

When your agents aren’t swamped with numbers and papers, they can dedicate their time to finding out more about potential clients and spend some time on reminding customers who didn’t renew contracts on your services and products.

Automate Your Advertising

A proper piece of finance CRM will offer you tools to automate internal processes – as we explained so far – but that’s not all. Quality software will also provide you with tools to automate your advertising methods and create a self-sufficient system.

For instance, a number of your clients is subscribed to your newsletters or they signed up to get more information regarding only a part of your offer. Well, instead of dedicating one of your agents to manually delegate this information, you should simply automate it.

Centralize Your Data

Another common mistake that many contemporary businesses make is having their business data scattered on different platforms. This is a bad move for technical reasons – systems can crash, and you can lose information vital to the future of your business.

If you centralize your data by using finance CRM software:

Your database will be safe and sound.

Your employees will be able to access any piece of information sooner.

You won’t have to think about the consequences of a system crash.

Centralizing your data has short-term and long-term benefits. If you want to focus on the present, you should look at how much time is being wasted on retrieving information your agents need in order to do their jobs once your data is centralized. On the other hand, the future of your business will be protected – it would be disastrous for your company if you’d have to collect all that information once again.

Monitor Agents

Considering the fact that your employees are in direct contact with your clients, you should keep a close eye on how they spend their work hours. However, standing behind them while they are doing their job and breathing down their necks will only make them feel uncomfortable and stressed.

So, you should use your new software to monitor their work. Quality finance CRM software will provide you with the tools to:

See how much time your agents spend on your clients.

Access their conversation history with clients and learn about their approach.

Keep track of the number of sales they make.

With this kind of insight, it will be clear to you if your agents require additional training and what parts of your business strategy require improvements.

Make Your Departments Collaborate

For your company to function properly, all the departments need to communicate efficiently. Finance CRM will provide you with a very transparent platform that will bring every team member from all the departments together and allow for quick and easy communication.

Other than the fact that this will oil your business mechanism and help everyone in the company do their job more efficiently, you’ll also encourage collaboration and evoke team spirit. Something like this will have a positive influence on the atmosphere in your office, making it more supportive and friendly.

Develop Strategies Based on Facts

Finally, finance CRM will enable you to develop smart plans for the future of your business, by providing you with different insights, like information about:

Your business strategy

The work hours of your agents

The needs and wants of your clients

You’ll be able to set realistic goals and direct your company in the right way. When you know for a fact what your target audience needs, what your agents are capable of, and the ways to improve your business processes, you can develop your strategies down to the tiniest detail.

However, it’s obvious that you need a powerful finance CRM tool to do all of this. Therefore, make sure you find a piece of software that can process all the data, store information properly, and provide you with the means to take proper care of your clients.

After everything listed above, it is clear that finance CRM software belongs in all contemporary offices. Not only is it capable of making the lives of your employees much easier, but it will also open many new doors for your finance company.

If you implement high quality CRM software, no significant learning curve will be necessary, so you can start using it right away. Just make sure you’re using its full potential, and you’ll be able to see the first results quite soon.